Vol. XXI" 

 '904 - 



General Notes. 



279 



tomus vociferus, thus adding another species to the list of Colorado birds. 

 At least it is not given in Professor Cooke's list, nor in Mrs. Bailey's 

 ' Birds of the Western United States.' The specimen was in good plum- 

 age, but greatly emaciated, although I found no signs of its having been 

 injured. — L. E. Burnett, Taxidermist and Collector, State Agricultural 

 College, Fort Collins, Colorado. 



Another Abnormal Bill. — The character of the malformed bill sub- 

 mitted by Mr. B. S. Bowdish in the last number of 'The Auk' seems a 

 common type in abnormalities of that kind. I have in my possession 

 the head of a Crow {Corvus americanus) afflicted with the same kind of 

 malformation. In this case, however, the upper mandible is bent com- 

 pletely down and around so as to point over the bird's shoulder. The 

 lower mandible is not so greatly elongated as in Mr. Bowdish's speci- 

 men, however, but the notches he speaks of where the mandibles cross 



Malformed Bill of Crow {Corvus americanus). Nat. size. 



are very deep. There is no sign of injury to account for the peculiar 

 growth. 



It raises an interesting conjecture in regard to the winter and early 

 spring food supply of these birds. It was killed early in March near 

 Port Huron, Mich., 1901, and was evidently starving to death when the 

 shot gun put it out of misery. Its plumage, however, was in good shape, 

 not quite as glossy perhaps as some, but it was quite evident that the 

 bird did not suffer from lack of food at the time of its last moult. What 

 food it could have lived upon during the winter is a subject for specula- 

 tion. It was an impossibility to pick up anything from the ground with 

 such a bill, and whatever its diet was during the winter, it could not be 

 found in the more northern ranges in early spring. — P. A. Taverner, 

 Chicago, III. 



